Knowing Too Much

“Knowledge is Power.”

That phrase was printed on the side of my art erasers at Glen Allen Elementary School. Being in 2nd grade, I didn’t really grasp what it meant. Now, more than 20 years later, I know what the giant art eraser was trying to shove into my mind. I also realize how terribly incomplete it is.

Today knowledge is a commodity. Sure there are specialized skills, and tangible jobs that can’t quickly be Googled. But for the most part, anything I need (or don’t need) to know is at my fingertips.

Unrestrained access to knowledge can be terrible.

What about Mystery? Mystery is just as powerful. However, it is not us who harnesses the power. Mystery is something we want to know, but someone else controls access to. (i.e. Women. Honestly, they’re a lot more fun through some mystery.)

I know where my friends go. I know what the popular restaurants are. I know the second the sun will rise. I know the sex of my friends’ baby while its still inside of them. I know a lot.

In fact, Pastor Mark Driscoll recently posted a quote by Anne Furedi, head of Britain’s largest abortion provider. She said:

“There is no legal requirement to deny a woman an abortion if she has a sex preference.”

Basically, she was making a case for British women to murder their healthy babies simply because they don’t like the gender it happens to be.

Knowledge is power, indeed. But are we better off with it?

Knowledge is power. Knowledge is responsibility. Knowledge is opportunity.

Knowledge itself is not good or bad. What we do with it can be.

The irony of my art eraser is that knowledge cannot be erased. You can never un-know something. So the question is, once you have the knowledge, how will you use your power?